The Girl and the Ice Queen
by PiOfEternity
Summary: The world wants to spill her blood, but she just wants to win her heart.
1. Chapter 1

.

The Girl and the Ice Queen

-:-

Chapter One

* * *

The Ice Queen watched from her dais as a single hooded girl stumbled into her throne room, alone.

"You must be a special kind of stupid to have come alone." she laughed, leaning forward. "Do you really think you can collect the bounty on my head all on your own?"

The bard, rather winded by her long journey, leaned on a nearby pillar for support.

"Uh, no..? Why would I want to do that?" she replied.

This caught the Ice Queen off guard.

"I mean, it's just my opinion and all." The girl went on, clasping her hands together under her woolen jacket for warmth. "But I'm pretty sure you'd agree when I say you look much better with it on."

"What?" asked the now rather dumbfounded queen.

"Your head. The one your shoulders? I think you'd look prettier if it stayed there is what I'm saying."

A silence ensued.

"Uhh..." The redhead laughed sheepishly. "Let's start over from the beginning. My name's Anna, what's yours?" she continued, taking a step forward.

The Ice Queen growled, sending a lethal flurry of ice flying toward the intruder. The girl's body slumped to the floor, dead before she even knew what hit her.

A pause ensued before the queen let out a sigh, conceding immediately that her actions were fairly rash.

Were they necessary though..?

" _Well,"_ The Ice Queen thought to herself. _"She could very well have just been trying to get me to lower my guard before attacking, and—"_

White light suddenly began to bathe the girl's corpse as the Ice Queen pondered her actions—the telltale sign of a resurrection spell. Anticipating the return of a now very angry redhead, the queen readied a second flurry of ice, only to be thoroughly perplexed when the white light coalesced into a small harmless wisp instead of that of a live human being.

"Is this some kind of a joke?" the Ice Queen shouted, for she was well acquainted with this particular variant of resurrection.

The spell was one designed for use as a safety net of sorts in playful duels, spars, and other such situations where neither party truly wished lasting harm upon the other. The way the spell worked was that the victim's life essence would temporarily be preserved in the form of an _incredibly vulnerable_ wisp upon death, with the immediate cessation of hostilities being expected to allow a priest to revive the fallen. This variant of resurrection was virtually never seen in true combat scenarios, as permanent death would result upon the destruction of the wisp, hence why the Ice Queen was now more bewildered than ever.

She watched as the little ball of light fluttered about her throne room, automatically searching for a way out.

" _Just a flick of the wrist._ " She thought. That was all that was needed in order to forever end the life of this suicidally audacious, and awkward, redhead.

She could do it. Executing people in cold blood had never fazed the Ice Queen. In fact, she'd long since built a reputation for ignoring the pleas for mercy from overly cocky adventurers and would-be bounty hunters. But this girl...

The Ice Queen instead directed her icicles at the nearby wall, puncturing it for the wisp to escape through.

" _She seems harmless enough,"_ the Ice Queen thought, as she watched it float away through the crack.

* * *

 _Sometime later..._

Two bleary green eyes blinked open as the redhead rose from a bed.

"Oooh, my head hurts." she groaned. "...Huh? Where am I?"

"The Arendellian Church Infirmary," a male voice replied. The redhead turned to find a priest nearby, attending to another patient.

"I'm alive?" she asked.

"Yes, it would appear as though you are." The priest confirmed. "It was wise of you to have received a protective blessing. However, do ask your partner to exercise more restraint in the future."

"My partner?" The redhead echoed, thinking back to the supposedly merciless Ice Queen. "Wow..."

* * *

 **This is just a little thread I had in my mind being fleshed out a little further.**


	2. Chapter 2

.

The Girl and the Ice Queen

-:-

Chapter Two

* * *

 _The very next morning, at the general store._

WANTED:

The Ice Queen of Arendelle

.

.

.

.

100,000,000GP REWARD

DEAD OR ALIVE

"Don't even bother, girl. You can't take her on."

"Huh?" The girl glanced away from the wanted poster and found the shopkeeper glaring at her.

"The ice queen. Don't think I can't see you lookin' at her poster."

"Well, she is quite an eye catcher."

"...?"

"Err, I mean, the reward money and all...?"

A pause ensued.

"Yeah, whatever kid. Look, just save yourself the trouble and stay home. Damn clergymen are getting rich off resurrection fees because of her."

"Oh, does she normally let people go?"

"Let people go? Are you joking? Of course not. The Ice Queen is _merciless_. Those overcocky adventurers are only alive because of their wallet, nothing more."

 _Huh. That wasn't the case with me, but okay..._ "Why is the Ice Queen a wanted woman, anyway?"

"Why do I care? The kingdom wants her dead, and is willing to pay a king's ransom to whoever pulls it off. What more do you need to know?"

"I dunno." The girl shrugged. "Figured I'd ask, since it's still a human being on the other side and all..."

"Hah!" The shopkeeper laughed. "That thing ain't no person. No human being alive can kill the way _she_ does and still look themselves in the mirror at the end of the day."

"If you say so." The girl turned to leave.

"You're not seriously thinking about headin' over to her castle, are you?"

The girl smiled to herself. "I think I can handle myself."

"Your funeral, kid." The shopkeeper sighed.

* * *

"Good morning!" the redhead exclaimed, nonchalantly sauntering back into the Ice Queen's throne room.

The queen glanced upward from where she sat, scowling almost immediately afterwards. "You again?"

"Yep, me again! I didn't feel like going to adventurer's academy today, so I decided to come here instead!" The girl replied, skipping up to the queen's throne.

The astounded queen visibly struggled to formulate her next response.

"I am not sure what I find more ridiculous," she replied incredulously, after some time. "The fact that you've paid those exorbitant tuition fees and are choosing _not_ to attend, or the possibility that you've somehow forgotten _I killed you_ last night."

The girl cocked her head. "Well, I'm still alive now..." she began.

"Yes," the queen interrupted. "And as of right now I am tempted to permanently change that."

"Oh, you know what I mean." The girl laughed. "If you'd really wanted me dead, then you would've made sure I stayed dead last night."

"What's to say that I can't just kill you again?" The queen growled, conjuring a bolt of ice above her head.

The girl confidently planted both her hands on her hips, completely unafraid in the face of certain death.

"Because I like you!" she replied.

"Wha—"

"—And you like me too!"

The girl's raucous laughter drowned out the queen's protests, although the next thing she knew, she was waking up back in the church infirmary with a note attached to her chest.

" _Attend class,_ " it read.

* * *

 **I've been thinking that a more visual medium, such as that a webcomic, would probably be a better way through which to convey this story.**

 **Oh well. Too bad I can't draw.**


	3. Chapter 3

.

The Girl and the Ice Queen

-:-

Chapter Three

* * *

 _10:00PM, at the Ice Queen's palace..._

The girl sprinted into the throne room, hands cupped around her mouth.

"Helloooooo!" She hollered. "Ice Queen? Are you home?!" The girl swivelled around, searching her surroundings for the blonde in question. "Ice Queen! I have a question I kind of really need to ask you!"

The annoyed queen stepped out of a side room, her facial expression displaying an obvious contempt for being disturbed at this time of night.

"You again?" she sighed. "What do you want?"

"Hi!" The girl exclaimed, now hunching over and gasping for air. "I'm really sorry to be bothering you right now, and I know this might sound weird... but could I really quickly ask for your name?"

"My name?" parroted the Ice Queen.

"Yeah, if you don't mind?" The exhausted redhead sprawled herself out across the icy floor, appreciating its coldness through the back of her hood.

"You _ran_ the entire way up here... just to ask for my name?" Disbelief was evident in the Queen's voice.

"Well, I wasn't exactly running the _entire_ time." The girl admitted, chest heaving. "I managed to hitch a ride on Marshmellow's back for that last stretch of mountain, which is _crazy s_ _teep_ I'd like to add. And did you have to make so many stairs leading up to your palace? My quads are dying over here. _"_

"Marshmellow?" The Ice Queen paced a circle around the girl, her arms crossed and her icy heels _clack clack clacking_ on the similarly icy floor. "Who is Marshmellow?"

The redhead laughed. "Oh, he's that giant snow golem you have wandering around."

A pause ensued, and the Ice Queen's gaze narrowed.

"What? Are you certain?"

The girl rose to her feet, having finally caught her breath. "Yeah. Actually, he's probably still outside right now." She skipped over to the Ice Queen's balcony and peered over the edge.

"Yep. Still there," she confirmed, waving wildly to something down below.

The Ice Queen briskly followed suit, her jaw dropping upon seeing her colossal snow golem staring up at them. And _waving back_.

"That thing is nothing but a lifeless animated pile of snow." She said, dumbstruck. "I created it for the sole purpose of keeping visitors _away_. How on earth did you manage this?"

"He's just a real softie, once you get to know him." The redhead grimaced. "...Though I'll admit he did send me back to the church infirmary a couple times first."

"I see. This is very interesting." The Ice Queen turned to lean backward on the balcony. "But I digress. You came up here to learn my name, correct? May I ask why?"

"Well..." The redhead rubbed the back of her head. "I _might_ have an assignment due tomorrow for my Bardic Storytelling course... that I _might_ possibly have completely forgotten even existed up until now." She glanced over at the Ice Queen sheepishly. "Aaaand I _might_ have been writing about... uh, you? And I found really quickly that it's super awkward trying to write a story about someone whose name you don't even know. So... I came up here to ask."

A pause ensued.

"Really?" the Ice Queen asked.

"Yep," the girl replied lamely. "And I'll probably have to stay up all night long to get the thing done in time."

"No no. You are writing a story about... me?"

"Maybe?" The redhead's already-red face flushed an ever darker shade of red.

"Fine," The Ice Queen laughed. "I can't for the life of me imagine why you'd want to write about _me_ of all people, but very well. My name is Elsa. E-L-S-A."

"Elsa," parroted the redhead, giddy with excitement. "That's a nice name. Really rolls off the tongue." The girl planted a boot on the balcony railing. "Well! I gotta go. It's a long way back to Arendelle from here and I'd better get started. See ya Elsa!"

And before the blonde even knew what happened, the redhead had clambered over the railing and jumped off, beginning a precarious freefall several hundred metres downward to the snowy turf down below. A split second passed before the Ice Queen flourished her hand, successfully conjuring a snowy nimbus to cushion the fall of the questionably sane redhead.

"You are absolutely full of surprises," the Ice Queen chuckled to herself, before sending the cloud flying back towards civilization.

* * *

 **I have the utmost respect now for anyone who can manage update anything on a consistent schedule.**


	4. Chapter 4

.

The Girl and the Ice Queen

-:-

Chapter Four

* * *

 _10:20AM, Classroom Block C of the Adventurer's Academy._

A short and elderly man stood in front by the blackboard, scrawling rapidly upon it with a piece of chalk while a class of thirty enterprising young students attempted to keep up. Finishing, the professor set the stub down with a resounding _CLACK!_ _a_ nd turned to face his students.

"This concludes the theory on magically enhanced persuasion." The man announced. "Your practical exam on this unit will be held two weeks from now so I highly suggest that you all get some practice before then. I'll be at the front if there are any questions, otherwise class is dismissed."

Anna gathered her belongings as people began to file out of the room. She followed suit, passively listening in on the background chatter as her classmates talked amongst themselves.

Anna checked her class schedule and sighed. Her next lecture wasn't due to begin until 11:20AM, meaning that she now had a full hour of free time on her hands to kill. What was she supposed to do until then? Study? Hah! She decided instead to wander around campus.

The Adventurer's Academy was known for its gardens, for it was situated on top of a rather tall mountain, and so had vast amounts of spare land to throw around. Why the founders had chosen such an isolated location was beyond Anna's understanding. It was so far away from Arendelle that a two-way round trip ate up the better half of the day!

The redhead walked up to her favourite bench, which was situated at the edge of a cliff. She swept off a couple rogue leaves and sat down.

From here, Anna could see everything.

She could see above and beyond the surrounding ocean of evergreens. She could also see the whole of Arendelle at its finest, with its bustling port and strong infrastructure. And lastly, way off in the distance, at the apex of another mountain even taller still, where the land was snowy all year round, she could see the Ice Queen's palace reigning supreme over the land.

Anna drank in her surroundings for some time, at peace with herself for the time being.

Of course, it didn't last long, Anna being the restless soul she was. It was a bit of a relief in fact when a nearby tree began to rustle. Anna looked up and managed to catch a glimpse of a familiar sight, to her great joy, in the form of a snowy owl flying overhead.

Anna smiled. Looks like she may well be doing some "studying" after all, because if her hunch was right... then she very soon would make a new friend. She fished out her lute from her schoolbag, readied herself to put some newly learned concepts to use, and began to play.

...

And sure enough, like a sailor enchanted by the siren's call, the owl swooped down and began to circle around overhead. For you see, the owl was actually yet another one of the Ice Queen's many autonomous snow creatures.

"Hey there buddy," Anna called out. "What're ya up to today?"

Of course, she knew it wouldn't exactly reply as it was mostly made out of magically animated snow. She also knew that the Ice Queen no doubt would've purposed an owl as a flying scout, but that was also besides the point.

"Hm, well. What's your name, then?" Anna asked, continuing to build a friendly camaraderie while strumming along on her instrument. She racked her brain for potential names, recalling many that belonged to other famous owls from literature, but none really felt right. She wanted to come up with something original.

Anna stopped strumming to enter the Thinking Man pose, the music having served its purpose, and returned her lute to its place. The owl continued to circle around in the air.

"Gee, I'm really stumped." Anna admitted after some time. She watched as the bird balanced itself onto an overhead branch with a short yet furious _flippity-flap!_ of the wings, and that's when it hit her.

 _Flippyflaps._

It was terribly juvenile, but she liked it. She liked it a lot, actually.

Truth be told, "Flippyflaps" was not the silliest name she'd ever come up with before, that title belonged to something else which itself was another story entirely, but she was a child back then and therefore such behaviour was not unwarranted. To still be coming up with things like this at her current age though...

Anyhow, the bird seemed to like it, for immediately upon being named it fluttered its way off the tree and found a new perch in the form of Anna's outstretched and thankfully thickly sleeved left arm.

The two enjoyed a short silence together as Anna mentally congratulated herself on naming the bird.

She hadn't brought with her any means of precisely telling time, however, so she figured she'd best start heading back to the academy now if she were to make it to her next class on time. This meant that the two would have to part ways though, since it would never do to let anyone see Flippyflaps. Never ever. He _was_ acreation of the Ice Queen after all. Who knows what things they'd do to him.

"Thanks for keeping me company Flippyflaps, but I gotta head out now." said Anna, giving the bird's very cold back a soft stroke. "Oh! But there's something I'd like you to do for me first."

Leaning over to her schoolbag, Anna pulled out a piece of parchment paper and very quickly scribbled something on it. She rolled it up against the bench once finished and held it out to the bird.

"Could you do me a favour and give this to the Ice Queen for me, please?" she asked.

The owl dutifully grasped the scroll and set off, flying away into the sky towards the Ice Queen's palace. Once it had become nothing more than a tiny speck in the distance, the redhead packed up her belongings and turned back to the Adventurer's Academy to attend what would probably be another very _long_ lecture.

She groaned.

* * *

 _A few hours later, at the Ice Queen's palace._

The Ice Queen was in the middle of a late lunch when one of her owl scouts suddenly flew in through the balcony doors, dispensing onto her table a very damp piece of rolled up paper.

Her first thought, after realizing what had just happened, was that the sender of this message had evidently not thought of the limitations of using literal snow owls as couriers. Her second thought was along the lines of waaaait a minute, exactly how and why were her scouts being used as messengers?

She carefully and cautiously plucked the wet scroll off her table, and was even more so when unrolling it. It read, in almost illegible scrawl (water damage notwithstanding):

"Hi mommy Elsa! I'm a snow birb whose name is Flippyflaps, and I love you!"

It had taken the Ice Queen no less than half a second to realize who had authored this letter. She glanced upward at the snow owl, who had perched itself on top of the chair across from her.

She groaned.

And then laughed.

* * *

 **This document on my laptop is literally called "TGIQ4 new new new new" (one "new" for each rewrite).**

 **I kept writing awkward things that I didn't like and would never publish but struggled for the longest time to do the right thing and just trash them.**


	5. Chapter 5

.

The Girl and the Ice Queen

-:-

Chapter Five

* * *

 _11:47 PM. Outskirts of Arendelle._

Anna was yet again making her way up to the Ice Queen's palace, this time with an enthusiasm never before seen.

She had returned to the cliffside bench a few days after her little stunt with "Flippyflaps" to find the bird waiting for her in a tree. The bird had swooped down over to her, dumped a shiny wax tube at her feet, and was back safely hidden away in the tree before she even realized what was going on. The bird proved unresponsive to calls oddly enough, but regardless the redhead picked up the thoroughly waterproofed scroll and unrolled it to find a message. Written in fine cursive, it read:

 _That was very cute of you._

 _Come see me when you are next able. Alone, mind you._

— _E._

And seeing how she was presently making her way up the Ice Queen's mountain, Anna had evidently decided that "when you are next able" meant _right that very instant._

Sure, Anna did have another lecture that she was supposed to attend, but she knew her priorities. She promptly paid a fee to be teleported back into town and was en route to the Ice Queen's palace. In the middle of the day. Instead of attending to her studies like a good student.

Eh, a good bard wasn't supposed to care much for rules anyhow.

* * *

 _12:04 PM. The Ice Queen's palace._

The front gates were eerily quiet when Anna summited the peak. Quiet in the sense that Marshmellow wasn't standing guard or even present to greet her, as had become custom in all of her past visits. The snow golem's absence was highly unusual.

Anna pushed through the front doors and gaped at the sight before her.

The palace's ice floor was ripped up and jagged with bloodstained icicles. An arsenal of discarded armaments lay scattered about. Pools of frozen blood dotted the area. A fierce battle had evidently taken place and Anna had just walked into its aftermath. No actual bodies were visible though.

Anna clasped a gloved hand over her face and tried her best to ignore the sickening smell of iron permeating the air. Turning around having long since ceased being an option, she scurried her way through the mess and bolted up the stairs. She arrived at the throne room's double doors in time to witness the Ice Queen standing amidst even more carnage, executing the remnants of her attackers. The ambient blizzard buffeting the room calmed as the bodies dissipated into bursts of white light.

"Ahem," Anna coughed into a fist, "did I come at a bad time?"

"You could say that," replied the Ice Queen, finishing off the last remaining straggler. She glanced over at the redhead. "You look very pale. Are you alright?"

Anna waved nonchalantly. "Me? Oh, yeah I'm totally fine—actually, no. I'm really not. I feel like I'm about to throw up."

"I'd really rather you not do that," the Ice Queen sighed, "here, come with me."

The Ice Queen turned in the other direction, beckoning for the redhead to follow. Cracks and protrusions in the icy floor smoothed themselves out around her as she went, whereas magically conjured snow likewise appeared to sponge up spilled blood. Anna followed suit, and found herself led into a sparsely decorated room containing little more than a pile of fur pelts stacked into the corner, a table, and a chair. The Ice Queen directed her to the furs while she herself took the chair.

Anna was glad to be breathing fresher air; she felt better immediately.

"Squeamish to blood?" the Ice Queen asked, crossing one leg over the other.

"I guess," Anna replied, "or maybe it's that I'm not 100% comfortable with the fact that a slaughter just happened here."

"None of them are actually dead."

"Yeah, I know. They're all probably waking up at the church already or something. But still, an icicle into the forehead. Yikes," Anna shuddered, "...but who am I to judge? You're a good person. Smart too I'd bet. For all I know they had it coming."

The Ice Queen scoffed. "I? A good person? How would you know that?"

"Simple." Anna snuggled herself into the furs, quite warm and comfortable by now. "You didn't kill me back when we first met, even though you very easily could've."

The Ice Queen was quiet for a moment.

"That was unthinkably stupid of you to have done that," she said after some time. "What if I hadn't decided to let you go?"

Anna shrugged. "I dunno. I'd probably be decomposing by now."

"How can you be so reckless with yourself?" asked the Ice Queen in pure disbelief. "Do you regularly go around putting your lives in the hands of total strangers?"

"Only if they're cute."

Anna's eyes widened as she realized what she just said. The two women blankly stared at each other for just a moment, after which Anna promptly turned and buried her face into the furs.

"I see," said the Ice Queen, unflinching. "So, that is why you came up the mountain?"

"Nah," Anna mumbled, "if anything it was more like a side benefit."

"That's a very unconvincing denial."

"Yeah, well... uh. The real reason's because I needed to draft up a story idea for one of my classes. You know? So there. Not everything's about you." Anna's tone here was reminiscent of a young child.

"I'm not sure I follow. It still sounds as though everything's about me," said the Ice Queen, amused. "That does remind me though. I never did get a chance to see that paper of yours."

"It's still with my professor. I think we're supposed to get them back today, but I skipped today's lecture so I could come here. Or well, I'm technically still skipping. I've another lecture I'm supposed to attend today that's probably starting any minute now."

"Excuse me? I told you to come _when you were next able_." The Ice Queen stood up and began casting a spell. A portal leading back to the Adventurer's Academy appeared on the wall. "Go. Attend class," she ordered.

"What are you, my mom?" Anna complained. "And should I be concerned that you can do that? Because if any mage can teleport into the Academy just like that then I don't know how safe I feel in there anymore."

"The Academy's screening process only allows current students or faculty through, so no you have nothing to worry about. Also I find the idea of you being concerned for your safety to be laughable. Now get going. I still have a lot of cleaning up to do, if you've forgotten."

Anna grumbled something about having "literally just arrived and already leaving so soon," before reluctantly stepping through. The portal closed behind her as she disappeared.

The Ice Queen chuckled as she made her way back down toward the foyer, regenerating her snow golem bodyguard offhandedly as she passed by his melted remains. "Cute," she had called her.

* * *

 **How is it that I still get "you have a new follower" notifications for these stories, even after literal months have passed since the last update? How did you people even find this story?**


	6. Chapter 6

.

The Girl and the Ice Queen

-:-

Chapter Six

* * *

 _3:37 PM. Ice Queen's palace: living chambers._

Elsa had come to accept Anna's visits as inevitable by now, to the point where she hardly batted an eyelash when the redhead invited herself into her living quarters one day and cozied herself into her makeshift fur mattress.

"Hello Anna," she greeted noncommittally whilst perusing a stack of papers. "What brings you here today?"

"Technically speaking? Marshmallow," Anna replied, her voice muffled, "he gives me a ride up the mountain now if I bump into him."

"Convenient."

"Yep! But for real though I'm here because of a bet about that whole 'everyone trying to kill you' thing."

"I hope for both our sakes that you aren't gossiping about me to everyone you know."

"Nah, only with my best friend and cousin," Anna freely admitted. "We mostly just argue over whether or not it's safe for me to be up here since they think you're a dangerous person to be around."

"They're not wrong," the blonde deadpanned.

Anna laughed. "I know, but my continued existence says otherwise so they've kind of just accepted my insanity. Anyway, the bet's about the fact that nobody in Arendelle actually knows _why_ you're a criminal since, y'know, your wanted poster doesn't say why."

"So you and your friends all came up with your own guesses, and you came here today to see who's right?"

"Pretty much." The redhead nodded.

"Fine," the blonde turned to Anna, intrigued. "Let's hear it."

"Well..." Anna began, "my friend doesn't actually think there's any reason at all. He thinks you're some secret employee of the church and that this all a scheme to scam more money off dumb adventurers."

"That's pretty dark."

Anna shrugged. "Yeah, he's a bit of a cynic. Dude thinks animals are better than people. I'm assuming that he's wrong?"

"I'd be unimaginably rich if he weren't." The blonde sighed wistfully. She rose from her seat and made her way over to a window, plucking an icicle off the overhang.

"Moving on then," Anna continued. "My cousin thinks you're secretly royalty, and that you're hiding here in exile from your usurpers. She also thinks that this ice castle is meant to be a constant reminder that you could come back at any time."

"That's a good guess," Elsa commented.

"Is she right?" Anna gasped.

"No," the Ice Queen answered, crushing the icicle in her hands. "But that would make for a great story." Rattling _clunks!_ resounded through the room as she filled a nearby kettle with the shards and set it to boil.

"She is a big fan of fairy tales," Anna agreed. "She always got to be the princess back when we were kids and I always had to be the knight." She looked up and found the Ice Queen sipping from a teacup. "Is that water? Can I have some?"

"It's still ice cold," the blonde warned.

"I don't mind, thanks." Anna reached out and accepted a cup of liquid icicle. She took a cautious sip and shuddered as the cold spread throughout her system, but it was refreshing nonetheless. "Where was I?" she asked.

"You were about to tell me your guess as to why I'm wanted."

"Right, thanks. And uh, as for me? I think you're some kind of ancient guardian protecting powerful arcane artifacts up here on this mountain. Y'know, secret conspiracy things."

The redhead looked up from her cup and to find the Ice Queen staring at her bemusedly.

"What?" the redhead asked, defensively.

"An ancient guardian? Do I really look that old?"

"...Maybe you've got a fountain of life in here?" Anna spluttered, face red with embarrassment.

"I don't. And isn't it unfair for you to be trying to change your theory?"

"Fine. Who won?"

"You did," answered the Ice Queen. She sat upright in her chair. "I'm _not_ an ancient guardian, mind you, but pretty much everything else you said was accurate. That should be all you need to know for your bet." She then turned away, refocusing her attention onto her papers.

And then sighed.

"But since I know you won't give me a moments peace otherwise, fine. The 'powerful arcane artifact' in question is myself."

* * *

 **Writing is awkward when the chapters are mostly dialogue.**

 **I also remember that my author notes used to be paragraphs long, and that they'd just be me rambling about my life -.-**

 **Excited for the sequel though.**


	7. Chapter 7

.

The Girl and the Ice Queen

-:-

Chapter Seven

* * *

 _A few days later._

 _10:39 AM. Adventurer's Academy Library: "Arcane Magics" aisle._

Anna was currently hard at work, diligently researching for the upcoming final project of her Bardic Storytelling course.

Which meant, in other words, that the redhead was sitting on the floor next to a haphazard stack of arcane texts, trying to figure out what exactly the Ice Queen meant when she had earlier proclaimed herself to be a magical artifact. The project description required her to "pick an influential character to write an epic story about," and so Anna was adamant on writing about the Ice Queen. To do so otherwise never really occurred to her. However, as the blonde steadfastly refused to elaborate any further beyond what was already said, despite Anna's best efforts, the redhead was forced to resort to other means of research.

She certainly wasn't going about it very efficiently. Anna was simply flipping through pages at random with no idea what she was looking for, and eventually she began to pack things up with a sigh. It was about this time when another student passed her by the aisle. He took one look at the pile of books Anna had amassed and did a double-take.

"Woah there," he said with a laugh. "Building a fort?"

"Oh!" Anna exclaimed, taken slightly by surprise. "Uh… no, just doing some research."

"What about?"

"Err… the Ice Queen."

The man lit up at mention of the Ice Queen. "Really? That's kind of funny. That's why I'm here too. What are you looking for? Maybe we can help each other."

"Oh, well…" Anna fumbled with words. "She… err… a while ago I heard a rumour that the Ice Queen herself is some sort of magical artifact… or something. I dunno. Something along those lines. Didn't really make much sense to me."

The dude looked at Anna in confusion. "The Ice Queen… is a magical artifact? I'm not sure if I get what you mean… wait." He stopped to think for a moment before lighting up. "Actually, I think I do… oh my god, that explains everything!."

"Huh?"

"She's gotta be bonded to a frost crystal," he explained, running a hand through his red hair while laughing to himself, a silly grin on his face. "You know, me and my friends have tried so many times to take her down. We're the best fire mages in the Academy, see, but even we never stood a chance. Now I know why."

"Uh…?"

"Right, I doubt you've ever been up there before," the dude checked himself. "The Ice Queen has a brutal fighting style. You go up there and then all of a sudden there's a million icicles coming at you from everywhere. It's insane. She doesn't give you any breathing room to do anything without getting stabbed in the face. You'd expect that she'd exhaust her mana reserves fighting like that, but no, apparently not. And then you die."

"No, before that. I have no idea what you just said."

"She's bonded to a frost crystal. You know that's possible, right?"

"Back up a little more. What's a frost crystal?"

"You must be a first year or something." The guy sighed. "Elemental crystals are something you'll learn about in Intermediate Spellcasting. They let you cast spells of their element for free. Super useful. And expensive. They're not easy to find. Bonding yourself to one is almost unheard of though because there's a high chance of death involved. We usually just make staffs out them instead."

"Okay, sure. Makes sense. How did knowing that change anything for you?"

The guy narrowed his eyes at Anna for a moment, and then shrugged. "Eh, sure, it's not like you can killsteal us. We're gonna try something new. Something like firebombing the crap out of her castle from a distance instead of facing her directly the next time we head out. She'll be easy pickings without a castle to hide in and it's not like she can stop us; There's seven of us and only one of her. Honestly? I don't know why we didn't think of this sooner."

The guy turned and began to cast a portal spell. "Well, thanks. Gonna go round up the boys right now actually. I'll be sure to mention you in my autobiography after we get famous. Gotta cite sources you know. See ya." He winked at Anna before disappearing, without having ever asked for her name.

It was only now that Anna realized that she may have made a mistake.

* * *

 **I wonder what the demographics for the Frozen audience looks like (age/gender etc). I hear fanfics in particular are generally women dominated.**

 **I'm a guy.**


	8. Chapter 8

.

The Girl and the Ice Queen

-:-

Chapter Eight

* * *

 _The same day._

 _11:49 AM. Ice Queen's palace._

The Ice Queen was in her study, quietly reading some texts she'd anonymously purchased a few weeks ago. Living in isolation tended to hurt one's academic prospects, but she tried to keep up to date. The castle was of her own design after all.

A sudden flutter of wings roused the Ice Queen from her studies. A snow owl had unexpectedly flown in through a nearby window, which the blonde quickly recognized to be the same one the redhead had previously tampered with: Flippyflaps. It carried in its talons a familiar looking wax tube which it promptly delivered.

The Ice Queen unrolled the parchment paper, recognizing it also as being the same one she'd originally sent to said redhead. A second message had been hastily appended. The paper in its entirety now read as follows:

 _That was very cute of you._

 _Come see me when you are next able. Alone, mind you._

— _E._

 _ **7+ ACADEMY FIRE MAGES GOING TO YOU RIGHT NOW**_

 _ **ATTACKING CASTLE**_ _ **FROM FAR AWAY**_

 _ **! WATCH OUT !**_

The Ice Queen sighed. She was well acquainted with the mages in question and quite frankly was thoroughly fed up with their brainheaded stubbornness. Granted, the redhead was even worse in that aspect, but at least she hadn't yet tried to kill her. The fact that the mages were finally changing tactics worried her though; sieging the castle was indeed effective. Not only would she be unable to focus her attention everywhere at once, the Ice Queen was admittedly not wholly experienced at long range combat, having never had occasion to need it in the past.

The warning in advance helped immensely, however, and the Ice Queen wasted no time in making her way down to ground level. Exiting out into the snowy wilderness surrounding the castle, the forestry that normally would've worked against her was now hers to take advantage of.

She lay in wait.

* * *

 _Later..._

 _1:13 PM. Ice Queen's palace: living chambers._

The Ice Queen heard a set of hurried footsteps clambering up the stairs. She wasn't alarmed—only one person could get by "Marshmellow" without incident. Sure enough, the redhead soon came scurrying into the room.

"Oh thank god you're still okay," the redhead gasped, out of breath. She had evidently come as quickly as she could.

"I am. Thanks for the heads up." The Ice Queen replied, having long since returned to her readings after dealing with the would-be intruders.

"You're welcome, but uh…" Anna sagged to the icy floor, clasping her mittens over her head. "…I might've accidentally said something I shouldn't have. And then one thing led to another, and then… well… here we are."

Anna felt very uncomfortable as the blonde looked up from her book to stare at her, and even more so as she described to her the events that had occurred in the Academy's library just a few hours prior. The Ice Queen was quiet for some time afterward.

"Why were you looking me up in the first place?" she eventually asked.

Anna nervously rubbed the back of her neck, feeling as though she were being interrogated. "I'm writing another story about you," she answered.

"Oh?" the blonde turned her attention back toward her readings. "How's it coming along so far?"

"You're not mad about the whole fire mages thing…?" Anna asked, surprised. She'd expected the blonde to be harsher about all this.

The Ice Queen shrugged. "It doesn't sound like you meant me any harm, and the fact that you bothered to warn me at all says a lot."

She glanced over at the girl again and saw that she wasn't convinced.

"Well," she sighed. "If you really want to make it up to me, then why don't you show me how you managed to do that little trick with my owl?"

"Sure!" The redhead perked up, immediately comfortable in the blonde's presence once again as though a figurative switch had been flipped. She produced a lute and rose off the floor, humming and strumming. The owl promptly flew into the room, circling around overhead, and the Ice Queen's snow golem bodyguard joined in not long afterward. And thus, before she even knew it, a little dance party had begun.

* * *

 **Back in the day, it felt like every single fic at one point or another had a section where Anna would either ramble for an entire paragraph, or Elsa would word for word say, "the cold never bothered me anyway."**

 **This kind of direct quoting from the movie got old for me really fast, and soon I found myself rolling my eyes whenever it happened. As such, I now try not to write anything that I'd skip over if I were a reader.**


	9. Chapter 9

.

The Girl and the Ice Queen

-:-

Chapter Nine

* * *

 _2:27 PM. Ice Queen's palace: living chambers._

The Ice Queen was seated in her study, a bemused expression upon her face. Across the table from her sat the redhead, who just a few moments prior had "formally requested an official interview with the Ice Queen" in the most serious tone she could muster (which wasn't very). The blonde had jokingly offered an exchange rate of one favour per question only to be promptly taken by surprise when the redhead actually accepted her "terms."

"Okay, first question!" the redhead began, pen and paper at the ready. "You said a couple days ago that _you_ were a magical artifact. Can you tell me what exactly you meant by that?"

The Ice Queen wordlessly pulled down the collar of her dress to reveal a bright blue gem embedded in the skin slightly below the collarbone.

"I'm guessing that's the frost crystal? What exactly does it do?" Anna asked, scribbling a few notes.

The blonde shrugged. "Makes me better at ice magic, and makes other spellcasters envious when they learn I have it."

"And why is it the reason you're here?"

The blonde thought for a moment.

"There isn't an easy answer to that," she sighed. She thought for a little while longer, and then took a deep breath.

"I've had this thing my entire life," she began. "My earliest memories were of sitting in a dark cell in some magician guild's basement. That's where I grew up. I didn't know what they wanted from me, but every day a man would come down for an 'inspection.' They basically wouldn't feed me that day if I couldn't put on a good enough show. It was stupid, but it worked."

* * *

 _Several years ago._

 _Time unknown. Location unknown: underground cell._

A middle-aged man threw open the basement door with a thunderous boom, rousing the young blonde within from her sleep.

"INSPECTION," he bellowed as the girl scrambled to her feet.

She immediately began casting spells wildly, her blue gem glowing brightly as a veritable blizzard ravaged the room. Sharpened icicles flew every which way, embedding themselves into the wall, ceiling, and floor; while those that flew too close to the man inexplicably lost all momentum and clattered harmlessly to the floor. This continued for until the girl inevitably tired a few minutes later.

The man sniffed left without another word. It wasn't good enough.

* * *

 _Present day._

"I didn't know it at the time, but there was another kid down there with me as well. We first learned of each other's existence when the mages started pitting us against each other in one-on-one duels. They'd drag us out of our cells, cast the safety net resurrection spell onto us—the same one you had active on yourself during our very first meeting—and then throw us into an arena. Winner got dinner."

The Ice Queen shook her head. "I… never lost a fight, and he visibly got more and more desperate as the days went on. He must've been starving. It all culminated one day when he somehow ambushed me in my own cell. I'd later learn that the mages deliberately sent him in while I was asleep."

"What happened?" Anna asked.

"I was very lucky that asked for my final words," the blonde answered. "It bought me enough time to point out that I wasn't the reason behind our mutual unhappiness—our captors were. We utterly destroyed the building on our way out."

The Ice Queen leaned back in her chair. "But that didn't suddenly make us friends. I could tell that he hated me, but we stuck together out of necessity because neither of us had any idea how the real world worked and because we were both wanted by the authorities after our escape; the mages obviously didn't want us in a position to reveal what they'd been up to."

The redhead was writing at a furious pace.

"We survived by raiding random buildings for food. Then one day we hit a store that was under the protection of a criminal family we didn't know existed. We may have had raw magical power, but it didn't do much good against superior training."

"They didn't kill us, obviously. We were clearly more useful alive than dead. I was offered a position as a bodyguard, which I did fairly well at. Life was better. I spent my newfound free time learning to read and write. Got mocked for it, sure, but I stuck it out."

The blonde sighed. "So, how did I manage to screw that all up? Well, the other guy took being a debt collector with a disturbing amount of enthusiasm. He was ruthless, and rapidly rose through the ranks. Eventually he was influential enough to have me assigned to him."

She scoffed.

"The guy was still holding onto his childhood grudges for whatever reason, and didn't really try to hide the fact that he still wanted me dead. So, I ambushed him in his sleep—just as he did to me when we were young. Only except, I didn't stop to gloat."

The Ice Queen paused for a moment, amused by the redhead's wide-eyed reaction.

"The family clearly didn't like that at all," she continued. "So I stole what I could get my hands on and ran off. But, it's impossible to survive in a city where both the authorities and the criminals want you dead, so I ended up coming up here, where I'll at least be able to see them coming. At least, that was the plan. Then I realized I'd more or less trapped myself up here." The blonde looked off into the distance. "So here I am, waiting for an adventurer to come and end it all."

"Woah, _what_? You're kidding, right?" the redhead's pencil clattered to the table in disbelief. Things just went from zero to one-hundred, and for once it was Anna who was utterly dumbfounded, rather than the other way around.

"I was raised to be a living weapon," said the blonde matter-of-factly. "People don't care about me. I'm just a walking ticket to fame. And you're a bard, so I'm not surprised you came up here for my life story. In fact—"

"—HEY! You think I'm only here for a story? Well—" Anna jumped to her feet and angrily tore her notes to shreds, then swept the resultant confetti aside. "—You're wrong! How can you even think of saying something like that? I'm here because you're my friend!"

Elsa was visibly shaken by the redhead's burst of emotion. "Oh," she stammered. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize…" she averted her gaze in shame.

Anna's expression softened immediately. It was surreal to see this side of the Ice Queen. She quietly made her way around the table and pulled the blonde into a gentle hug, embracing her as she struggled to keep her composure. There were still a number of questions she had wanted to ask, but they'd have to wait. There were more important things to do right now.

* * *

 **It's funny how you can a scene envisioned at the story inception and yet still manage to horribly struggle with putting it into words.**


	10. Chapter 10

.

The Girl and the Ice Queen

-:-

Chapter Ten

* * *

 _11:39 AM. Elsa's palace: living chambers._

Strained grunts emanated from the stairs, announcing a visitor's arrival to the castle. The blonde looked up from her seat at the table to see Anna clumsily lumbering into the room with a large outdoors-backpack, evidently filled to capacity, nestled squarely upon her shoulders. She watched as the redhead hurried up the last few steps and carried her forward momentum directly into the table, turning at the last moment to heft herself onto the table bag-first. Loose papers fluttered to the ground as she slid to a stop.

Anna tilted her head upward, shooting the blonde a cheeky upside-down grin. "Heyo! What's up?" she greeted.

"Not much," the blonde replied. "Did you manage to find Marshmallow?"

"Yep! Carried me pretty much the whole way up." Anna replied, wriggling herself free of the straps. She sat up on the table and undid the bag's flap, overturning it to spill various pieces of wilderness survival equipment across the table. Elsa originally hadn't planned to do anything with the favours Anna technically owed her as per their "deal," but evidently had changed her mind in light of recent events. Her first request had been for the redhead to go out shopping for some badly needed replacement supplies. Anna didn't mind going; the request was reasonable, and Elsa had basically funded the entire trip and then some.

The blonde reached across the table to inspect a canteen. She gave it a solid rap with her knuckles and hummed with approval. "They look good. Thank you, Anna," she said.

The redhead laughed. "You're welcome! Except, I actually got my reindeer-lover friend to do most all the choosing for me."

"I see. Thank you, Anna," Elsa repeated much more drily as she tested a knife's sharpness on an errant piece of paper. Anna whistled to herself, innocently swivelling from side to side. She looked around the room from her elevated position on top the table and noted that most all the other furniture was missing, not that there was ever much to begin with.

She sighed. "So, you're really leaving?" she asked.

"It was a mistake coming up here in the first place," the blonde replied in the affirmative. Marshmallow appeared through the double doors as she spoke, lumbering around with a large bundle of furs roped to his back.

"Where are you going to go?"

"I don't know," the blonde answered. She paused for a moment, and then turned to gaze at Anna solemnly. "And even if I did, I don't think I'd be a good idea to tell you."

"What? Why?" Anna felt a knot form in her stomach.

Elsa turned away. "People almost certainly will be looking for me after I go, much as I'd like to believe otherwise. I don't want to say it, but I think it'd be safer for both of us if we parted ways today." The blonde spoke firmly, indicating that she wasn't looking to have her mind changed.

Anna's gaze dropped to the floor.

Next thing she knew, a pale finger was lifting her chin. She looked up and came face to face with Elsa, who evidently had turned around within an instant and closed the distance between them. The blonde took both of Anna's mittened hands in her own and smiled softly.

"You know," she began. "These past few days have been… beyond imagination. I didn't believe someone like you even existed until the day you came barging into my life." Elsa's smile turned into a smirk. "I still don't understand why you came up here in the first place, but maybe one day I will. You make me want to be a better person."

Anna's cheeks were already fairly red from the ambient temperature, and she felt more blood rushing to her head still. She managed a weak smile. "Everyone deserves some love in their life," she said.

Elsa's cheeks turned a bright shade of pink as well. "Thank you," she said simply.

Anna pulled Elsa into a deep hug, pulling the blonde into to her chest. She buried her face into the blonde's hair. "I'll miss you," she mumbled. "Don't die, okay?"

* * *

 **:O Frozen 2 debut. I'm kind of afraid to look around for fear of spoilers but I'm excited to see how strong a comeback the fandom makes.**

 **I feel as though I've explored as much as can or would like to in this world I've been throwing together as I went. It was fun, but I'm glad to move on.** **Also, near the beginning someone commented on the fic's similarity to the webtoon "Mage and Demon Queen." Yep! Great webtoon. Love it. I took the premise and decided to see where I could go with it myself.**


	11. Epilogue

.

The Girl and the Ice Queen

-:-

Epilogue

* * *

It was about a week or two later when rumours started spreading about the Ice Queen's absence. They ranged from mildly amusing to outright implausible. Walk into a tavern and you'd undoubtedly hear five different drunks each claiming to have ascended the mountain alone and driven her away in single combat. Walk into the Academy's library and there'd be some neophyte in the corner claiming to have found her living as a hermit deep into the Arendelle wilderness, and to be her secret apprentice.

Anna for her part kept to herself, staying indoors more often than not. She occupied her time with more writing. More and more writing. She adapted her experiences with Elsa into a tale about a woman whom the world had unjustly thrust the role of villainess onto. Anna took a few creative liberties with her story, imagining up a new ending where the woman ultimately redeemed herself by sacrificing her life to save that of an innocent girl who had befriended her. This ending was met with raised eyebrows all around by Anna's close friend and cousin, but was praised highly by the professors. She'd eventually go on to graduate with distinction as a full-fledged bard, something that profoundly surprised those that knew her previously.

* * *

 _Over a decade later._

 _1:28 PM. Bard's Guild._

A young man was standing outside his guildmaster's office. He was fidgeting nervously. He'd submitted his draft thesis couple days ago for review and was just coming in now to hear the response.

"Come in, have a seat," came a voice.

The apprentice shuffled his way into the office. On the desk was the booklet he'd originally submitted. "Okay, let's start from the beginning," the guildmaster began. "So, you're wanting to go investigate that fishing village on the east coast rumoured to be housing a cult, yeah?"

The young man nodded.

"Are you sure that's safe?"

"I've heard that it takes a questionable amount of sanity to make it as a bard." The young man grinned.

"If you say so," the guildmaster chuckled. "Anyhow, there's a couple other things in here that we should go over first. Well, a lot of things, actually…"

* * *

The young man mentally groaned. The guildmaster had made so many comments and suggested so many possible revisions over the span of 30 minutes to the point where his original booklet was now covered almost entirely with red ink. From a distance the thing looked as though a young infant had taken a marker to it, and the worse part was that each little suggestion was one he'd ultimately have to consider and address.

"…I'm not so sure about infiltration to be honest," the guildmaster continued, jotting down another annotation. "Or if you really want to do that, then you'd definitely have to scope the place out really well beforehand. The last thing we want is a brainwashing…"

The young man, in a bit of a daze, began to stare out the window. He noticed an odd-looking snow owl perched on the windowsill and absentmindedly pointed it out to the guildmaster, whose entire demeanor changed upon seeing it. As in, she frantically ended the session on the spot, rescheduled for a later date, and then _leapt_ out the window as if her life depended on it. The young man watched dumbfounded as she chased the owl into the nearby forest.

Hmm.

Next he saw her, she was a completely changed woman. Much happier than ever before. The poorly hidden hickies on her neck probably had something to do with that.

* * *

 **Thanks everyone. See you later.**


End file.
